THE ORDER of Preachers welcomed a new brother, Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani, Jr., who joined the Dominican priestly fraternity last Aug. 14 at Bahay Pari chapel of the San Carlos Pastoral Formation Complex in Makati.
Bacani said being a long-time instructor at the UST ecclesiastical faculties and his friendships with the Dominicans during his student years in Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila inspired him to join the Dominican family.
“One aspect that I find attractive was not the ideas first, but the persons, because I was always attracted to St. Thomas Aquinas’ and St. Dominic de Guzman’s religious zeal for preaching,” he said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
Bacani, who became the first bishop of the Diocese of Novaliches in 2002, also said he felt drawn to the University’s motto Veritas in Caritate or “truth in charity,” adding that he also strove to pursue this ideal during his episcopate.
“[Faith] is simply not a personal faith… It must offer to the transformation of the world of family, education, economics, politics, arts and culture. I think the Christian faith should permit those [transformations] in the world in which we live,” told Bacani.
Inspired by Fr. Pedro Tejero, O.P., a Dominican priest in Letran, Bacani entered the diocesan seminary and was ordained priest in 1965.
In 1984, he was elevated to the rank of bishop.
He became affiliated with the order after being invited by Fr. Florentino Bolo, O.P., promoter of the Dominican Clerical Fraternity in the Philippines.
“The reason I joined [the Order of Preachers] is to be able to find support, to have a kindred spirit of life,” said Bacani.
Bacani finished his doctorate degree at Angelicum University in Rome, also a Dominican institution.
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Dominic is a group of diocesan priests who choose to live by the charism and ideals of the Order of Preachers.
